Christmas Eve at the DHQ JR

I thought I'd better get Christmas up here before we get too far out. So we had just a lovely Christmas Eve. After Miri and Ollie and I spent some time at the WHQ (were I was still trying to get some gifts finished) we met back up with Kevin at home and got the fire going. I think. Did we got the the DHQ senior before we went home? I don't remember. I do remember how willing the children were to help with the cleaning up of the home so that Santa could find his way from the fireplace to the Christmas tree, heh, heh.
So with the generous donation of some Christmas flannel that Grandma J gave to me, I sewed some Christmas PJS for Kevin and the littles. Tons of fun, but took me long enough. I think I finished sewing the last stitches the Eve of Christmas Eve. Anyhoo, for some reason, Oliver felt it neccessary to open them around the kitchen table. Huh? Alright, whatever. Perhaps another tradition, eh? 

 And then came the crowning moment of singing Silent Night and putting our homemade Baby Jesus in his homemade cinnamon stick manger (Kevin's got lashing skill, yo). Both the children wanted to have a turn putting him in the manger, and they were so happy that he had a soft, cozy bed to sleep in--thanks to their acts of service and kindness throughout the month. (For each act of service or kindness, they got to place a piece of straw into his manger). You can see Oliver holding the "star" over the manger. :) It was a very lovely, peaceful Christmas Eve, and I hope these are the beginnings of some traditions for our little family for years to come.

Miri had to give the baby Jesus a kiss, but I missed it with the camera...

Build and Grow at Lowe's

I lived in Orem close to 11 years, and 5 of them with children, and I frequented the Lowe's Home Improvement store for most of those years--for gardening supplies and most of my needs when it came to projects and home improvements. In all that time, I never knew about their free kids clinics on Saturdays. It took me moving two cities away to find out about them. In any case, we went to the three that they had leading up to Christmas (they built a christmas engine, coal car, and caboose). The kids get their own apron, goggles and building kits. And when they finish their item, they get a builder's patch to sew on their apron. Needless to say, Oliver has already misplaced all of the above items. Miriam still has her apron, goggles and a one patch, but we lost her entire train. sigh.

In any case, both Oliver and Miriam LOVED it, they can't wait to go to the next two coming up in January.

Snow Man Dance

Oliver was so excited for us to see his Snowman Dance before school let out for the Christmas break. Miriam still talks about it. It was darling--I guess it's been a Valley View tradition for the kindergarteners to do this dance before the older kids' Christmas program. Here are the pictures...Where's Snowman Oliver? Hint: he's wearing a red and black scarf.

 Here's Miriam waiting semi-patiently for Oliver to do his Snowman Dance:

 I had to get a picture of his friend Abby. She's in the other kindergarten class, so they were opposite ends of the stage.

Good stuff!

bringing in the new year with a post for last year

Happy New Year. Just wanted to post something, anything, really quickly, to get this (blog) party started, yeeeeaah! So Oliver was out of school and I decided we needed to DO something, so I took the children to see the Santa Claus at the University Mall. They were charging a hefty $25 or something for a photo with Santa, and no personal photography was permitted, so I didn't get a pic of Ollie on Santa's lap (and Miri would not be within 9 feet of the poor man) but I did get pictures of their chocolate sucker faces playing in the children's play area of the mall.

 Chocolate face:

 Miri has to try out every floor, no matter how dirty, hard, lumpy, or disgusting it might be. Oliver decided to join in and make some "floor" angels. There were snowflakes, after all, right? So I suppose it's not a huge stretch of the imagination...

 More chocolate face. I didn't have any wipes or tissues or anything.

being reinspired, remotivated, and reiterated

I just met with a good friend, who has inspired me to get back to blogging--her bound anthologies of her years ijf blogging that will be cherished by her family "for decades to come" have made me rethink my reasons for blogging (or not blogging, rather) and I'd love to be able to make a book of our year in 2012.

Starting this Monday. LOL!